PurposeThis study compares signs, symptoms and predictive tools used to diagnose dry eye disease (DED) and ocular surface disorders in six systemic well-defined and non-overlapping diseases. It is well known that these tests are problematic because of a lack of agreement between them in identifying these conditions. Accordingly, we provide here a comparative clinical profile analysis of these different diseases.MethodsA spontaneous and continuous sample of patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) (n = 27), graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) (n = 28), Graves orbitopathy (n = 28), facial palsy (n = 8), diabetes mellitus without proliferative retinopathy (n = 14) and glaucoma who chronically received topical drugs preserved with benzalkonium chloride (n = 20) were enrolled. Evaluation consisted of a comprehensive protocol encompassing: (1) structured questionnaire - Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI); (2) tear osmolarity (TearLab Osmolarity System - Ocusense); (3) tear film break-up time (TBUT); (4) fluorescein and lissamine green staining; (5) Schirmer test and (6) severity grading.ResultsOne hundred and twenty five patients (aged 48.8 years-old±14.1, male:female ratio = 0.4) were enrolled in the study, along with 24 age and gender matched controls. Higher scores on DED tests were obtained in Sjögren Syndrome (P<0.05), except for tear film osmolarity that was higher in diabetics (P<0.001) and fluorescein staining, that was higher in facial palsy (P<0.001). TFBUT and OSDI correlated better with other tests. The best combination of diagnostic tests for DED was OSDI, TBUT and Schirmer test (sensitivity 100%, specificity 95% and accuracy 99.3%).ConclusionsDED diagnostic test results present a broad range of variability among different conditions. Vital stainings and TBUT correlated best with one another whereas the best test combination to detect DED was: OSDI/TBUT/Schirmer.

No abstract

PurposeDry Eye Disease (DED) is part of several conditions, including Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and no single test to diagnosis DED. The present study intends to evaluate whether a set of signs and symptoms of DED can distinguish: a) SS from other non-overlapping systemic diseases related to DED; b) primary and secondary SS.Methods182 consecutive patients with DED were evaluated under five groups: SS, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), Graves' orbitopathy (GO), diabetes mellitus (DM), glaucoma under treatment with benzalkonium chloride medications (BAK). Twenty-four healthy subjects were included as control group (CG). The evaluation consisted of Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), Schirmer test (ST), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) and tear film break up time (TFBUT). Indeed, a subset of DED patients (n = 130), classified as SS1, SS2 and nonSS (NSS) by the American-European Criteria were compared. Quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) classified the individuals based on variables collected. The area under Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve evaluated the classification performance in both comparisons.ResultsComparing SS with other diseases, QDA showed that the most important variable for classification was OSDI, followed by TFBUT and CFS. Combined, these variables were able to correctly classify 62.6% of subjects in their actual group. At the discretion of the area under the ROC curve, the group with better classification was the control (97.2%), followed by DM (95.5%) and SS (92.5%). DED tests were different among the NSS, SS1 and SS2 groups. The analysis revealed that the combined tests correctly classified 54.6% of the patients in their groups. The area under the ROC curve better classified NSS (79.5%), followed by SS2 (74.4%) and SS1 (69.4%).ConclusionsDiseases that causes DED, and also SS1, SS2 and NSS are distinguishable conditions, however a single ocular tools was not able to detect the differences among the respective groups.

Oxidative stress (OS) is a major disruption in the physiology of the lacrimal functional unit (LFU). Antioxidant enzymes have dual protective activities: antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Peroxidases have been indistinctly used as markers of the secretory activity of the LFU and implicated in the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of dry eye disease (DED), even though they comprise a large family of enzymes that includes lactoperoxidase (LPO) and glutathione peroxidase (GPO), among others. Assays to measure and correlate OS with other local LFU phenomena have methodological limitations. Studies implicate molecules and reactions involved in OS as markers of homeostasis, and other studies identify them as part of the physiopathology of diseases. Despite these conflicting concepts and observations, it is clear that OS is influential in the development of DED. Moreover, many antioxidant strategies have been proposed for its treatment, including calorie restriction to nutritional supplementation. This review offers a critical analysis of the biological mechanisms, diagnostic outcomes, drug use, dietary supplements, and life habits that implicate the influence of OS on DED.

No abstract